I feel like property assessments raising your value and therefore the tax you pay on your property is double / triple / how-ever-many-years-beyond-purchase-date-le taxation. You paid tax on the purchase price. At the very least only tax the difference between purchase price and what is assessed, then when a new assessment comes out, between the new and old assessments. Imagine paying a tax on a loaf of bread at the store, then having to pay again every time you eat a slice. Nobody (sane) would do that.

And to add insult to injury, when you sell the property, you have to pay capital gains taxes on any extra you made, above and beyond what you paid for the place.

And don't give me that "oh the local governments have to pay for roads and schools etc" bullshit. They can raise their sales tax and/or income tax, have bonds on the voting polls, etc. If the town is worth living in or visiting, people will pay to live there.

Also I feel that raising the assessment, then making you pay taxes on that potential income, is no different than if they made me pay taxes on potential sale of my stocks, as if I had sold them but I didn't. And if by some freak chance my assessment goes down, they're surely not going to go back and refund me for taxes I paid on a higher amount, are they?

The whole thing is insane.